Traditional inks and paints generally available for use by both adults and children exhibit several drawbacks in daily use. Spills of such coloring compositions lead to stained skin and clothing. Clothing is often ruined by such stains as they fail to wash out even after several washings. Skin must often be washed several times to remove such stains.
Further, many such coloring compositions are deficient in that they bleed through paper, commonly known as "strike-through". Addition of traditional surfactants to these compositions in attempts to improve fugitivity of the coloring compositions from skin and clothing merely increases strike-through.
Currently, some approaches to developing coloring compositions which are more easily washed from skin and textiles include (1) utilizing limitedly available dyes which have good fugitivity from fabrics and/or lowering dye concentrations and, (2) chemically grafting chromophores (dyes) onto a water soluble polymer such as poly(ethylene glycol). A major drawback to these methods is that they are costly.
Surfactants are commonly used to enhance the fugitivity and cleansing properties of compositions by altering the surface energy of a solid or liquid. This ability is attributable to the dual nature of the molecules or ions of the surfactant compositions. Within a single molecule or ion of a surface-active agent, there is a group that has a tendency to repel the dispersing medium or solvent, and at a suitable distance within the same molecule or ion, there is another group that attracts the dispersing medium or solution.
Typically, sulfonated surfactants are the most useful surface-active agents because they exhibit the most desirable fugitivity and cleansing properties. However, utilizing these sulfonated compounds is difficult because of the tendency of these compounds to remain in the solid state at room temperature.
In coloring compositions, such as those used in marking instruments, the tendency of a sulfonated surfactant to remain in the solid state at room temperature translates to clogging of the capillary marking system, such as a bonded fiber marker nib. Therefore, the caps on these capillary marking systems may only be removed for very short time periods before the marking system becomes inoperable.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a composition which imparts enhanced fugitivity when added to various coloring compositions.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a surfactant composition which reduces the likelihood of skin irritation should the composition contact the skin.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a surfactant composition which remains in a liquid state at room temperature.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a surfactant composition which may be manufactured economically.
These and other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.